


Pslam 119:11

by lovedathunderbird



Category: Basketball RPF, College Basketball RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: 2016-2017 College Basketball Season, Duke University, F/M, I know I'm trash for writing this but what does that make you reading it?, Mild Language, also, alternative universe, because Duke wins a National Championship in this story, i am trash, my trash friend, shh... its for narrative purposes, spoiler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 21:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13598649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovedathunderbird/pseuds/lovedathunderbird
Summary: I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (NLT)





	1. Summary, Author's Note, and Disclaimer

Summary:

Being the daughter of the ‘Most Hated College Basketball Player’, Sophie Laettner is no stranger to the media’s scrutiny of Duke Basketball players. That is, until she is on the receiving end of the media’s fascination with the current Duke Villain, Grayson Allen, all due to a disastrous misunderstanding. There are the lies the media tells and then there are the lies she tells herself.

Author’s Note:

Since my health is beginning to look up, I thought I could give this another shot. I originally posted this on a different website, but decided to switch platforms. I also changed and added more to the story to help clarify some things. As a non-native English speaker, please forgive my ever shifting tenses, odd word choices and sentence structures.

I know I’m going to HELL for writing this, but you’re coming with me for having read it.

Disclaimer:

Please note that the author acknowledges that this story is fictional. It is a made up story about real people who may or may not know each other, who may or may not have participated in any of the mentioned activities, or, who were or were not at the mentioned locations. The events portrayed in this story are fictional and do not reflect on the actual people written about. The author also acknowledges that there is no intent for anyone reading this fictional work to believe that anything written is or was true. The individuals, institutions, universities, and companies presented within are caricatures, are not true to form or actual likeness, and are written by the author for creative purposes. This is a work of fiction, done as a not-for-profit fan activity and no way intends to infringe on any of the rights by and of the companies, universities, individuals, or institutions mentioned.


	2. One

A buzz from her phone a little after 9 pm pulls Sophie Laettner away from her homework. Briefly, she glances at the screen, expecting a goodnight text from her parents; a habit of theirs since the beginning of the fall semester into the current spring semester of her freshman year at Duke University. The comforting words are a salve for the distance between them.

Alongside the nightly text is another from an old number she hasn’t seen in a while, not since the beginning of the school year.

Her breath catches in her throat just as it did then.

Suddenly, her homework is forgotten and she scrabbles to get ready. Sophie dials her friend and puts it on speaker as she digs through her clothes. At the bottom of a pile she finds the black skater dress that’s a little too short for her tall frame. She debates wearing heels. Would he be upset if she stood taller than him? She knows it’s trivial but she also knows male egos. She chooses the flats.

Her friend doesn’t answer, but it doesn’t matter; her dorm room is just down the hall.

Sophie practically runs there, and when the door gives way before she can even knock, her friend’s confused unsure, “Hi…?” greets her at the door.

“I just got a text from Frank Jackson. A house party. Let’s go.” Sophie cuts right to the point.

“Okay, just give me a minute to change,” Her friend retreats back into the room. A few minutes later she emerges redressed.

They walk together from their dorm room building onto the street, talking excitedly. It’s late, but there are a couple people around still despite it being a weekday. They cut through the lawn of a sorority house after the first block and arrive at an already busy house party. The sprawling extravagant home belongs to an alumnus, currently out of town for the week, and being house sat by a pair of borrowed ladders. [1]

Together they walk through the sprinkling of people at the front of the house. Only when at the open door does Sophie turn around, hands outstretched to grab her friend and finding air, does she realize she’s alone.

Sophie doesn’t know what that’s about, but her attention is elsewhere as a bright smile cuts through the bustling crowd to greet her. She smooths down the front of her dress in an act of nervousness.

“Hey, you came,” Frank says by way of greeting.

“Yeah,” She says, smiling; not bothering to hide her excitement.

“Awesome,” he says, nodding.

Sophie’s stuck just nodding in return, awkwardly trying to think of what to say next. She’s saved by another familiar face, Grayson Allen, as he breaks through the crowd, giving her a small wave in greeting. She waves back.

“I like your dress,” He surprises her by saying when he joins them near the entrance of the house.

“Oh, thanks,” She replies, hands itching out of nervousness to smooth it again. She turns to Frank, awaiting a compliment from him too. It doesn’t come.

Frank is looking elsewhere, attention occupied by something in the distance. Sophie takes this time to truly look at him up close. He’s handsome, very handsome, and tall. Taller than she thought. She could have worn her heels if she wanted. He stands half a foot taller than her.

Then that something arrives, taking Sophie by surprise, hitting the back of her legs and running around her feet, making her lose her balance. Grayson reaches around to steady her with a hand around her waist. She looks down to see a Labrador Retriever leaning against her legs, staring up at her. Sophie notices he’s missing his left eye, which would explain his sudden arrival. She bends down to greet him, moving out of Grayson’s strong grip. There is joy in a surprise like this.

“Who are you, hmm?” Sophie coos softly to the dog, voice low and friendly.

Looking up, she sees her friend trailing behind with a leash. She can’t help but laugh, not at all struck by her friend’s propensity to find stray pets and lose them just as quick.

“Hey, look who it is!” Sophie teases, rising up.

“Sorry!” Her friend blurts out, slightly out of breath.

Once she joins the group, Sophie introduces her friend to both Grayson and Frank. With the leash reattached, the dog sits obediently between them, seemingly star struck by the Duke Basketball players.

They chat for a bit before someone else’s arrival, another member of the team, usually late, but always welcome, pulls the boys away. As they make their exit, Sophie turns excitedly to her friend.

“Frank is so good looking,” She whispers, giggling.

Her friend gives her a pointed look, “You’re clueless.”

“What?! Like, I’m wrong?”

“No. It’s just,” she sighs, “Didn’t you see the way- “

The Labrador Retriever barks loudly between them.

“-was looking at you?”

Sophie frowns, confused.

Her friend glances down at the dog, “See? Even Lucky agrees with me.”

“Who?” Sophie asks.

Before she can answer, the dog is off, running towards the open kitchen door.

“Wait!”

The leash tightens as her friend tries to hold the dog back, then is lunged forward as the dog pulls her away. Her friend shouts apologetically, “I promised Kate I’d take care of Lucky!”

“Who?!” Sophie shouts as her friend disappears into the crowded kitchen.

She’s left alone again, a stranger in a stranger’s house. And this time there’s no bright smile to break through.

-

Only later, when Sophie is wondering through the house looking at photos and staring a little too long at the homeowner’s family photos in the den, does a voice break through.

“You’re a photographer, right?”

Sophie spins around, caught by surprise once again by Grayson. He’s leaning on the door frame, half out the room, half waiting to see if she’ll welcome him in.

“Yeah,” she starts, “I, um, take photos,” she finishes lamely.

He laughs at her, in that sudden scrunching of his face way, that Sophie can’t help but laugh too, a little embarrassed.

He walks in and slumps into the nearby sofa, still smiling at her. She makes her way over and sits down too. Side by side they stare at the photo.

“I think it’s a picture of camels,” She says.

“What?” Grayson asks, perplexed at her observation.

She stands up again to get a better look, moving past the coffee table and towards the framed black and white photo. He stands with her, and then behind her as they move closer, head right above hers, trying to see what she sees.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” He concedes, shrugging. It must have been taken on a family trip to Dubai. The surrounding photos are of similar exotic locales.

Sophie turns around to confirm and finds herself facing his chest an inch too close. She turns back quickly. “Mmhm…” She mumbles, waiting for him to return to their seats first. He does.

“How’s your dad?” Grayson asks once she’s seated.

“Good. Busy.” She answers nonchalantly. For the most part, Sophie has sidestepped talking about her father here at Duke, but occasionally when revealed as a Laettner, she’d be asked if she is related to the same Christian Laettner of Duke Basketball fame.

“How are your parents?” She asks politely. When she had seen them last, at a basketball game earlier in the year that her father had taken her to, they seemed well.

“They’re managing.” Grayson answers in turn. Sophie can see the slight tension around his mouth and the careful way he speaks. There’s more there, but she doesn’t know the Allens well enough to pry.

They lapse into silence.

“So, what do you take photos of?” Grayson begins again.

Sophie tries to sound a little less lame explaining it this time, even if it means they’re not as amused.

 

\---

 

Early February in Durham is not at all what Sophie expected. She doesn’t know what she expected, having lived in sunny Florida most of her life.

Partaking in the traditional tenting of Krzyzewskiville with her fellow Duke classmates, in hopes of getting in to watch the Duke vs UNC game in Cameron, Sophie tries to stay warm. But even inside a tent, with three layers of clothing and a blanket on her lap, the cold finds her. It seeps into the untucked edges of her blanket, powders her cheeks pink and clings like frost to the tips of her lashes. She aches for home.

Sighing, Sophie opens another heat pack. She thought she could deal with the cold, but she clearly really can’t.

The others are warm enough in the tent, doing homework and studying, while she shivers and bites down her teeth to stop them from chattering. She concentrates harder on the book in her lap, trying to distract herself.

Soon, the K-Ville Concert will start and maybe then she’ll be warm with a drink in her hand and the clear night sky above.

Through the small clear panels in the tent roof, the dying sunlight stretches across the top marking the passing of time. When it wanes a burnt golden red, Sophie takes it as a cue to get up and stretch. She takes a walk around the tents, watching as the sun sets between the buildings. Then it winks at her, sunlight flickering before it descends, set to rise elsewhere. She fights the urge to follow its path. She follows the paved one instead and circles back around to her tent.

-

The concert is full of great music and dancing. Sophie is a little too self-conscious to dance, but moving keeps her warm, so she moves with the crowd, swaying, till a sound, her name, she thinks, cuts through the music. She turns, searching, and finds to her delight, Grayson, to her far left. She waves at him. He makes his way over, all the while talking to her. She can’t make out what he’s saying, so she meets him halfway, out of the circle of people crowding the front.

He’s still talking when she reaches him.

“What?!” Sophie shouts.

He moves closer to her, shoulders dipped and head down to reach her. Sophie lifts up onto her tip toes to help close the distance. He’s as tall as Frank, but she’s in sneakers tonight.

“Do you want my jacket?” It’s the first thing she hears from Grayson.

She’s taken slightly aback, he’s in his Duke jacket and she’s not sure if she can take it, but before she can even object, he’s pulling it off his shoulders and putting it around hers.

“You look very cute,” he says with a shy smile, “and very cold.”

“Oh, thank you,” Sophie says, hands floundering a little until they settle around herself, pulling the jacket tighter.

“You’re welcome,” He replies.

“How have you gotten use to this weather?” She wonders, as he seems content in only his Duke sweater underneath.

“I haven’t,” Grayson laughs. “It’s my third year here and still, I’m surprised by North Carolina’s winter every year.”

“Doesn’t it make you miss Florida?”

“Sure, but being here at Duke, being able to play here, is an opportunity I would do anything for.”

Sophie smiles at his answer, an answer better fitted for the media than a friend. She wonders if he often slips into this persona.

“Won’t you get into trouble for missing curfew tonight?” She asks, head tilted up at him, eager to see if he’ll keep up the persona.

“Sure,” Grayson answers playfully, a smile slipping through, “but a pretty girl is always worth a little trouble.”

Sophie laughs and looks into the crowd, trying to spot who he’s referring to.

He makes no move to leave her, and they spend the night side by side listening to the music, talking and swaying in the cold.

-

The following day, her father arrives on campus and ushers her into seats several rows behind the bench, turning her tenting in Krzyzewskiville into an exercise in futility.

The view is much better there and Sophie is shown beside her father on TV. [3] The team beats UNC by ten, with Cameron roaring and the boys all smiles, so maybe it was an adventure in futility, she muses.

 

\---

 

Later that night, half asleep and still groggy, Sophie gets a text asking if she wants to go to an upcoming concert.

It’s filled with misspellings and grammatical errors so erroneous she contemplates just texting corrections in response.

The next series of texts are just as bad, but in quick succession. She stares at her phone in the dark of her room, wanting to go back to bed, but unsure if the texting will stop if she doesn’t respond. By the time she realizes who it is, she decides to save herself the trouble and agrees.

It’s all emojis thereafter.

Sophie rolls her eyes, but can’t help smiling. Someone on the team should have taken Grayson’s phone away from him. Clearly after the game the team had gone out drinking. [4]

-

The full moon shines brightly in the night sky as they exit the venue after the concert ends. Sophie is stunned by its clarity. She’s never felt so mirrored by the moon.

Radiant and full, she is joy reflected. Music, her sun.

The crowd had been amazing in the small venue. Packed tightly together, with just enough room to feel safe, yet cozy, they had swayed, jumped, and shouted together, a mass joined. It didn’t matter that Sophie wasn’t familiar with the new band, only that she loved, knowing it was okay to love something a little too much if it felt this real.

The collective energy of the place lingers inside her, making Sophie a smiley mess, eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed with joy. She loves listening to live music.

What she had missed was Grayson’s captivation at her willingness to completely buy in, singing what she could catch of the chorus, loving with quick enthusiasm. Sophie seemed to love wholly what she knew to be truth told slant, but told in all.

He wants more time with her. “I’m starving,” Grayson announces without preamble.

“Same.” Sophie adds.

“Where do you want to go?”

Sophie suggests a nearby 24-hour diner she frequents with friends.

Once seated, she orders her usual. Grayson orders the same, smiling and saying, “I trust you,” when she gives him a questioning look after he doesn’t even bother to glance at the menu.

While they wait for their food, Sophie hums softly one of the new songs to herself.

“You’re really good at picking up new music,” He observes, surprised at her recall ability after hearing it only once. “Are you sure you’ve never listened to this band before?”

“No. And I usually don’t go to concerts blind, but I was swayed by your compelling words,” She teases, holding up her phone and displaying his texts.

Grayson groans, remembering faintly how his teammates had convinced him to just ‘shoot your shot’. It had worked, but it was still mortifying to be confronted with the way he did it.

“But seriously, you have great taste in music,” Sophie commends.

“Thanks. I, um, I just listen to a lot of stuff. I love music,” He babbles, “I just don’t play any instruments.” [5]

“I’m sure if you committed yourself, you could play any instrument you wanted,” She assures.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You have great hands,” Sophie says without thinking.

A furious blush rises to Grayson’s cheeks. She laughs at finally being able to catch him off guard.

He matches her boldness and asks to see her hands. Sophie shyly extends her right hand towards him over the table. Grayson holds her hand in both of his large ones, gentle and focused. Using his fingers, he outlines her wrist, hand and fingers, handling with care the memory of it in his. He turns her hand palms up, tracing the lines inside her palm, middle finger following the crease at the base to the center, then fanning out, each digit briefly touching before rising up again to press one palm fully over hers. In his large grip, she feels every inch of him on her exposed skin, the warmth of which astounds her.

When his eyes rise to meet hers, Sophie wants to pull away, to retreat and hide. The arrival of the waitress with their food allows her reprieve from his intense gaze. She withdrawals her hand. It tingles even as she shelters it under the table.

“Do you play any instruments?” Grayson asks.

Sophie tries to focus on his words.

“Yes, um, I play the guitar.” [6]

It was her father who had first taught her how to play. Despite being on the road in the NBA, he always found a way to spend time with her and her siblings. Sometimes, they’d settle for duets over the phone as he played either the piano or the guitar on speaker. [7]

“How long have you been playing?”

“A few years, but it’s only recently that I’ve started to write music.”

“You write music?” Grayson asks, impressed, “What about?”

Sophie shrugs, finding words difficult, “People, I guess. But it’s not always just people, sometimes it just emotions.”

She pauses, thinking, “It’s similar to poetry. It comes like a force of nature, catching hold of you until it finds its place on paper. Emotions are akin to people like that.”

She doesn’t know if she’s making any sense.

“What about me?” He asks, “What poem do you think of when you think of me?”

Sophie tries to temper her sudden recklessness, but her mouth is off without her brain. She quotes Bloody Mary by April Bernard:

 

“All the waste you see,

that’s what I did,

none of that _happened_

to me. I did that.

I made that. I killed that. I.”

 

The look on his face as she finishes shames her. Sophie had not wanted to say those words even as they arose in her mind.

After a long pause, Grayson confesses, “You did a better job than the school psychologist.”

“They made you see a psychologist?”

“It was just to cover all bases, or whatever.”

“I’m sorry,” She whispers.

He nods.

They finish their meal in silence.

-

Afterwards, Grayson walks her to her dormitory, strides lazy and at her pace. Sophie is content to take the next few blocks slow since her feet are beginning to ache. It’s been a long night.

When they arrive at her dorm room door, she digs around for her keys in her purse. Grayson pauses behind her as she searches. A little too close, Sophie thinks, feeling the warmth of his chest at her back, until she sees someone walk by in the corner of her eye. Immediately, she’s grateful for his alertness. She continues to search, digging at the bottom, catching a key ring by chance, and turns in the small space between them to smile up at him, presenting the keys in triumph. She turns back and unlocks the door, pushing just an inch before turning around, hand tight around the door knob behind her back.

“Thank you for walking me to my room.”

“Yeah, of course.”

Grayson lingers. Sophie can tell he wants to say something; there's that slight tension around his mouth again.

He takes a quick breath, about to start, then hesitates. He takes a step forward, hands almost touching her. His shadow falls over her and he stares into her eyes, searching for something. Whatever it is he finds, he pauses and settles for a soft, “Good night.”

“Good night,” She echoes. Grayson retreats back into the hallway.

Walking into her dorm room, Sophie watches from behind the ajar door as he makes his way down the corridor. She wonders what was on Grayson's mind. Was it the poem? Had she been too coarse with her words? She had not meant to hurt him with her magniloquent insinuation that he was in a situation of his own making.

Sophie closes the door.

Later, when she’s drifting off, a text brightens her room.

It reads:

 

the sheer assortment

of choices enough

to make a crown

crow. They never

loved me enough. [8]

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] A borrowed ladder is a term used in the film Gattaca to reference someone who climbs the socioeconomic ladder by using someone else’s DNA, in this instance, it is the borrowing of someone else’s property to present a more lavish lifestyle then they actually live. I will be making a lot of science fiction references, because fuck you, that’s why.  
> [2] Ditto on the comic books references.  
> [3] 1st Half at 15:04; This was the inspiration for the story.  
> [4] Gary Trent Jr was in attendance at the game vs UNC, then was present after, when the team went out drinking to celebrate. A photo was shared on social media.  
> [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU_BNuKwuuU  
> [6] somewhere from Sophie's Twitter  
> [7] http://www.jacksonvillemag.com/2011/11/01/getting-to-know-5/  
> [8] In case I never finish this godforsaken fic, this is in reference to the fans.


End file.
